# confessor
## English
### Alternative forms

* confessour (obsolete)

### Etymology

From Middle English confessor, confessour, from Anglo-Norman confessour, and its source, Latin cōnfessor, from cōnfiteor (“confess, admit, acknowledge”).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /kənˈfɛsə/, /ˈkɒnfɛs(ɔ)ə/, /ˈkɒnfɛsɔː/
* (General American) IPA: /kənˈfɛsɚ/
* Rhymes: -ɛsə(ɹ)

### Noun

confessor (plural confessors)
* One who confesses faith in Christianity in the face of persecution, but who is not martyred.
** 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 174:Confessors provided the troubled Church with an alternative sort of authority based on their sufferings, particularly when arguments began about how and how much to forgive those Christians who had given way to imperial orders – the so-called ‘lapsed’.
* One who confesses to having done something wrong.
* (Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism) A priest who hears confession and then gives absolution
** 1994 October, Larry Gross, “Coming Out On the Soaps”, in Gay Community News, page 14:They do not feel connected to any gay/lesbian communities. Nor do they feel able to establish relationships with anyone who can support them. Thus an inexperienced but sincere young heterosexual actor can find himself playing not only role model but also confessor and phantom friend to people in great need.

#### Derived terms

* confessorial
* confessorship
* father confessor

#### Translations
### References

Beccari, C. (1908) The Catholic Encyclopedia‎, New York: Robert Appleton Company, retrieved May 24, 2009, Confessor

## Catalan
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin cōnfessōrem.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central) [kuɱ.fəˈso]
* IPA: (Balearic) [koɱ.fəˈso]
* IPA: (Valencia) [koɱ.feˈsoɾ]

### Noun

confessor m (plural confessors, feminine confessora)
* (Christianity) confessor of the faith
* confessor (priest who hears confessions)
    Synonym: confés

#### Related terms

* confessar

### Further reading

* “confessor” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

## Latin
### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /konˈfes.sor/, [kõːˈfɛs̠ːɔr]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /konˈfes.sor/, [koɱˈfɛsːor]

### Noun

cōnfessor m (genitive cōnfessōris); third declension
* confessor of the Christian faith
* martyr

#### Declension

Third-declension noun.

#### Descendants

* Catalan: confessor
* English: confessor
* French: confesseur
* Italian: confessore
* Portuguese: confessor
* Spanish: confesor

### References

* “confessor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* confessor in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cōnfessōrem.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /kõ.feˈsoʁ/ [kõ.feˈsoh]
* (Brazil) IPA: /kõ.feˈsoʁ/ [kõ.feˈsoh]
** (São Paulo) IPA: /kõ.feˈsoɾ/
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /kõ.feˈsoʁ/ [kõ.feˈsoχ]
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /kõ.feˈsoɻ/
* (Portugal) IPA: /kõ.fɨˈsoɾ/
* (Portugal) IPA: /kõ.fɨˈsoɾ/
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /kõ.fɨˈso.ɾi/
* Hyphenation: con‧fes‧sor

### Noun

confessor m (plural confessores, feminine confessora, feminine plural confessoras)
* (religion) confessor (one who confesses faith in a religion, especially Christianity)
* (Roman Catholicism) confessor (priest who hears confession)

## Spanish
### Noun

confessor m (plural confessores)
* Obsolete spelling of confesor.